This might just be me, but if I’m really into a TV show be it cartoon, or live action, I always think about the possibilities it could have in the video game market. Video games as a medium can provide so much extra flavor and context to a blossoming world and of course, some properties work better than others. I think cartoons are superior in this case, or at the very least based on this list alone, have a better track record of actual good games. Almost every single entry on this list, on the best side, is a cartoon, whereas all of the other entries, on the bad end, are live action. Is there a reason for this? Well, you could say that shoehorning a side plot into a linearly structured TV show is asking for trouble.

Voice talent, or lack thereof, is another downfall of games based on TV shows. Sometimes they get the real actors to portray their TV counterparts and other times they get sound-alikes. Either way, it seems like the developers are screwed. On one hand saying you got Kiefer Sutherland to reprise his role in 24: The Game is a great selling point. On the other hand, he sounds flat and bored, which comes across, to me, as a waste of money. Maybe if that cash were spent less on talent and more on the actual game’s development, things would have turned out better. You know, good. Every game is a different case so let’s get to it.

30 Worst: Duck Dynasty

I can remember getting the press release from Activision about Duck Dynasty as clear as day. I was on vacation in New Orleans with some friends when I was reading through my business emails at night. I was dumbfounded, but I needed to play it. The show didn’t appeal to me, but I just needed to know how bad it was. It’s hard to put into words how terrible it really is. There’s the graphics, voice actions, dialogue, gameplay, and the list goes on. Plus it’s kind of racist and cruel, which is my biggest issue.

29 Worst: The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

But wait, Activision isn’t done making poor decisions on TV based games yet. After Activision saw how well Telltale’s take on the zombie phenomenon did, they wanted a piece too. They just did it in the worst possible way, which is to say Activision didn’t give enough time to their developers to make something memorable. It’s so bad that it isn’t even funny to make fun of. It just makes me sad to look at and remember. Good thing Norman Reedus found Hideo Kojima.

28 Best: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Being a 90s kid, yes I know puke and laugh, I was into the Power Rangers. Every boy was back then for a certain age bracket. Thinking about growing up and entering my teenage years was one thing, but when I watched this I imaged I would get to drive a giant robot as well.

It’s morphin’ time!

That never happened to me, but I did get my fun out of the SNES brawler. The music, art style, and gameplay all still hold up. The movie sequel is good too!

27 Worst: Alias

Alias was the first live action, adult TV show that I became obsessed with. For one, the story and characters were always hooking me in. Two, I was a teenager so getting to see Jennifer Garner dress up every episode into something slinky made my adolescent blood boil. In turn I was also excited for the game since it promised to tie into the show. While it did, the plot connections weren’t great and neither were the espionage action elements.

26 Worst: The Sopranos Road To Respect

I said adult for Alias, but it was still a basic cable TV show, which is to say ABC could never get that graphic. Technically the first really adult show I got into, around the same time, was The Sopranos. We never had HBO, but my brother brought up the season DVDs whenever he visited. Anyway making a video game based around this crime family seemed perfect. Grand Theft Auto was basically trying to emulate mobster shows and movies like this. Unfortunately The Sopranos: Road to Respect could not emulate the vibe of GTA back as well.

25 Best: Attack on Titan

Before Marvel’s Spider-Man, I thought Attack on Titan on PS4 was the best Spider-Man game in all but name. The reason being the 3D maneuvering gear worked a lot like Peter’s web slinging abilities.

The hope of humanity flies with the wings of freedom.

It felt so good to swing around giant titans and take them down with ease. Attack on Titan was proof that anime games could be more than just cheap tie-ins. The sequel, eh, not so much.

24 Worst: The Shield

23 Worst: Prison Break The Conspiracy

My stupidity ceased to improve itself because I somehow wound up with a copy of Prison Break: The Conspiracy. Here’s the weird thing though. At the time I bought it on a deep clearance, I had never watched the show. In fact, I still haven’t seen it. That didn’t really matter because either way it’s a bad game. It tried to do some unique perspective moments for a game, which I applaud, but A Way Out is a far better Prison Break experience. Just pretend that’s the real tie-in.

22 Best: The Simpsons Arcade Game

When The Simpsons exploded on TV everyone wanted a piece of it. Clothing companies pumped out products and you can bet your sweet buns that video game companies tried as well. The Simpsons game for arcades was both the best by miles and the weirdest.

Welcome to your grave.

See when Konami got the license, there was only one season to work with, which was tough. Characters weren’t fully developed so you got people like Mr. Smithers being a diamond thief and kidnapper. Plus there was the language barrier. It’s odd and short, but still a lot of fun.

21 Worst: The Office

I actually had no idea there was a PC game based on The Office, one of my favorite shows of all time, until one fateful Christmas. About five years ago my friends and I started buying a handful of crappy presents every year for Yankee Swap, as Michael Scott liked to call it. I bought this game for $1, which seemed like a crime until we all played it for that year’s party. Even though it was a gift I think a $1 was still too much.

20 Worst: Adventure Time Explore the Dungeon Because I Don’t Know

How about I don’t play your game? Why? Oh, you better believe I know why. Look. I like watching Adventure Time. I thought the idea of a multiplayer dungeon crawler in the same vein as Diablo, or Gauntlet could be cool with this show’s cast. Well, I was wrong. Even with friends, it is so repetitive and stale. There have been a lot of Adventure Time games. Mostly bad, but some good. This is by far the worst, which is why I placed it on here.

19 Best: The Lone Ranger

It’s kind of sad that most people nowadays associate The Lone Ranger with that crappy live action reboot made a few years ago. Johnny Depp was the least of its problems, but still one of the worst features.

Hi-Ho Silver, away!

Anyway, for those unaware, The Lone Ranger is based on a radio play from 1933, which also got a TV show later on. Konami, for whatever reason, acquired the rights to make an NES game in the 90s. Sound terrible, right? It’s actually a really cool western and one of the system’s best overlooked games. I was shocked!

18 Worst: Lost Via Domus

It may sound hyperbolic to say, but Lost changed TV. I still love the show and think it was a positive change for many reasons, but it’s not alone for pushing the boundaries of cable TV admittedly. Breaking Bad did too. Anyway as an obsessed fan the idea that there would be a game blew my mind more so than any other show. I could explore the island for myself and solve its mysteries? Cool! Sadly it didn’t get good voice or development talent, which I should have expected. You can watch me struggle through it.

17 Worst: Home Improvement Power Tool Pursuit

One of the first things I did when I got into game journalism was install an emulator on my Mac Desktop. I had one for my laptop in college, but it ran poorly. Anyway as I scrubbed through countless NES and SNES games, trying to uncover weird treasures in a segment I dubbed Bizarre Bits, I found Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit for the SNES. In it Tim the Tool Man Taylor gets magic tools and has to fight dinosaurs. It is terrible, but beautiful. You have to see it to believe it!

16 Best: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time is such a good SNES brawler. The first stage’s music gets me pumped every time. It’s also a fantastic use of the license. Unlike a lot of other cartoons from this era, many of the tie-in games were great.

Big Apple, 3 AM. 

Who made them? That’s right, Konami. I miss the days when Konami was a big name. Now it’s all about nostalgia and nothing great moving forward. Where has this Konami gone?

15 Worst: Game of Thrones

If I asked someone if they played the Game of Thrones game, chances are they would think I’m referring to something on phones. Maybe they’d even wager I’m asking about the Telltale game. Many forget, however, that an action RPG was made for PCs, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2012. It was a side story for the show right around the first season. It was a novel idea, but it felt unsurprisingly rushed. Plus all of these side characters were not exactly enthralling. That was the Telltale game’s problem too.

14 Worst: House M.D.

House M.D. was a great show that retooled the Sherlock Holmes formula to be about curing diseases rather than solving the usual mystery. The same cannot be said about this game. First of all, not to be dismissive, but aren’t Nintendo’s portables marketed mostly to kids? What kid knows about House M.D. let alone wants to play a game about the show? Second, it looks like it was whipped up in an afternoon. The cases, interface, and graphics all look like they came from a fan flash game.

13 Best: Dragon Ball FighterZ

Dragon Ball FighterZ is without a doubt the best game based on the hit anime series. There have been some okay to good games in the past, but there is also like a hundred bad ones.

It’s time to rock the dragon!

So the average is pretty poor needless to say. Leave it to the masters at Arc System Works to really nail the vibe of the show. It’s so good it got Giant Bomb to create a Dragon Ball Z podcast, which is excellent by the way.

12 Worst: 24

Metal Gear Solid V was not the first gaming gig for Kiefer Sutherland. That glory would go to 24, the show that basically revitalized his career. I’m that he only provided the voice though. Anyway, while it got over the top at times, 24 were still a thrilling series from episode to episode. The show’s unique format was brought over to the game, which was handled decently, but not enough to save this mishandled spy action mess. Metal Gear Solid it is not.

11 Worst: Deadliest Catch Sea Of Chaos

First of all, I want you to look at the box art for Call of Duty 2. Now I want you to look up the cover for Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos. Yep, that’s the same box art except with more crabs. That’s just a glimpse of how lazy and boring this game is. Does the idea of catching PS2 looking crabs on your PS3 excite you? It shouldn’t, but then again the show doesn’t do it for me either.